1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the sport of kite surfing, and more particularly, to a control apparatus that eases maneuverability of the kite and which also provides an ability to selectively adjust both the velocity and acceleration at which the kite sails.
2. Description of Related Art
Kite surfing is a sport of growing popularity among those who enjoy water sports. Enthusiasts engaging in the sport use a connected kite to capture energy created by the wind to then propel their movement across the surface of the water, all while standing on a small board much akin to a surfboard. Such sportsmen, or surfers, endeavor to accomplish highly acrobatic maneuvers. These maneuvers often require great individual skill and control of the kite.
To control the kite, it is necessary that the kite surfing equipment include a control bar. The control bar provides both a point of connection between the kite and the surfer, as well as the device that the surfer uses to adjust his or her movement relative to the water surface.
In achieving the above connection, the control bar is usually linked to the kite by a series of control lines, and to the surfer by a harness that couples to a belt or vest worn around his or her waist. Past designs of such linkage have often involved the passage of at least one of those lines directly through the surface of the control bar at the longitudinal center thereof. In the experience of many surfers, the passing of any control line through the surface of the control bar at that point interferes with an ability to freely move his or her hands fully across the control bar. Consequently, the particular range of surfing maneuvers requiring the ability to have such freedom of movement are greatly decreased, as is the enjoyment provided by the flexibility to quickly switch from the performance of one maneuver to another, say for example, while the surfer is airborne.
To adjust his or her movement while surfing, the surfer merely places his or her hands on the control bar and moves it in a desired direction, thereby steering the control lines, and thus the attached kite in the same general direction. As the positioning of the kite changes, the velocity and acceleration at which the surfer moves typically change as a result of the strength of the wind impacting the kite and the angle at which that impact occurs. Velocity, as is commonly understood, is movement with a certain amount of speed in a certain direction; and acceleration is simply a change in velocity over a period of time.
Past designs of control bars and their attached control lines, however, have been unable to allow the surfer to initiate, merely by a simple movement of the control bar, both an increase and a decrease in acceleration without causing a change in the surfer's travel direction. For instance, while at least one of these designs has allowed a surfer to increase his or her acceleration, a decrease in such acceleration can only be obtained by moving the control bar such that the kite is powered by the wind to a much lesser extent; whereby such movement also has the effect of changing the surfer's travel direction. Conversely, another of such control bar and line designs permits a surfer to slow the kite through movement of the control bar, but lacks an ability to have such movement make the kite sail any faster than the rate at which it is already traveling, absent an increase in the strength of the wind impacting the kite.
Thus, in view of the above, it would be desirable to provide an apparatus in which the attachment of the control lines to the control bar permits the surfer to freely use as much of the length of the control bar as is possible to control the kite. Further still, it would be desirable to provide an apparatus with which the surfer could selectively initiate an increase or decrease in the acceleration while moving in a single direction. With such a combination, a surfer would be able to maximize both the level of control, which he or she may exercise over a vast array of surfing maneuvers as well as, therefore, the level of enjoyment obtainable from his or her surfing experience.